Art of consuming fuel.



PATENTED APR. 23, 1907. E. H. WADE & J. L. NICHOLSON.

ART OF CONSUMING FUEL.

APPLICATION rum) APR.19.1906.

'm: mmms rsnns cc. WASHINGTON, n. c.

ART OF CONSUNHNG FUEL.

Soecifieation of Letters Patent.

Patented April 23, 19071 Application filed April 19,1906. Serial No.312,636.

Be it known that we, [has ll. WADE and .loux L. Nicnotsox, citizens ofthe United States, and residents of Chicago, Cook county, lllinois, haveinvented certain new and use- 'ful Improvements in the Art. of Consumingvl uol, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains toemploy the same.

' ()ur' invention relates to improvements in the art of burning orconsuming fuel, and has special reference to improvements in the art orprocess as carried out in locomotive boiler furnaces and the like.

The object of our invention is to improve the combustion in furnaces,particularly in locomotive boiler furnaces.

The subjcct-n'iatter of this application was first disclosed in, and istaken from, our

Furnaces, filed Se'pt l3, 1904, Serial Numbers 224,305 and 22%,fi-l06,wherein the dis closure of, the present invention is incidental to thedescription of and claims upon certain furnaces that are peculiarlysuited to our novel 'iroccss.

Our present invention is an improvement in the art of consuming fuel infurnaces; and consists in burning fuel in the lower part of a furnace,maintaining a partial suppllv of air through the bottom of said furnace,constricting the evolved gaseous body at a point above the burning fueland below the furnace outlet and forming and maintaining within andcompletely across the constricted portion of said gaseous fliody, astratum. or barrier of hot air thcrclrv augmenting the supply of air andcompelling all of the combustiblcs to pass through said' barrier andadmix with sullicicnt airto insure proper combustion. I

()ur invention will be more readily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, illustrating one form of locomotive boilerfurnace which we are accustomed to use in carryii'ig out ,ourii'ivention, which drawings form a part of this specification, and inwhich pending applications, entitled Locomotive Figure 1 is a verticallongitudinal section of a locomotive boiler furnace constructed in themanner required by our novel process; Fig. 2 is a rear end elevation ofthe boiler; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the irregular section lineof Fig. 1, viewed from beneath; and Fig. 4 is a compound transversesection, one-half thereof being on the line pand the other half on theline 2-3 of Fig. 1.

It is well known that many, and particu-' in grate area; in other words,suffer from lack of air, and that to secure the requisite evaporation inthe boilers it is necessary to force their fires. in locomotives this isdone larly locomotive, boiler furnaces are deficient by a steam blast,operating in the front end 6 5 of the boiler and'causing a strong draftof air through the furnace grate. This method of promoting combustion isobjectionable be cause the high velocity of the furnace gases toogreatly reduces the time. which should be allowed for combustion andresults in the carrying off of a considerable proportion of thecombustible gases and products. An incidental disadvantage of the blastand the strong draft created thereby is that the latter tends to disruptthe bed of fuel on the grate and uncover the latter, necessitating greatcare in the firing of the furnace. The completeness to which combustionwill progress in fuel depends upon the intimacy of admixture between thecombustil'ile products and o'xygcn from the atmosphere, and upon whetheror no sutlicient oxygen supplied to make proper combimitions with all ofsaid products.

The object of ourinvcntion is to do away with the need for the strongdraft through the furnace grate with all the disadvantages incidentthereto, and to supply a sufficient. quantity of oxygen to the burningfuel and the gaseous products thereof in such manner as to insuresubstantially perfect combustion. This we accomplish by heating air andadmitting it above the furnace grate, and by forming the heated air intoa strut-um or barricr which occupies the path of the gaseous and()fl1(*.l")l'()(l1l(. l.8 of the fuel at a point-considcrably back of orbelow the furnace Otliif' let. In this manner the vacuum and hence theupdraft in the furnace is reduced, and, more important still, all of thecombustibles are compelled to pass through a body of hot air wherefromthey are properly enriched with oxygen so that complete combustion mustfollow in the upper part of the furnace.

A thorough understanding of our novel improvement or process will befacilitated by a description of afurnace adapted thereto, such as isshown in the drawings.

The boiler, 2, represented in the drawings is of a common locomotivetype, containing a furnace, 3, and the Hues, 4.

5 represents the furnace grate, and 6, the furnace door.

Within the furnace are twoarches, 7 and 8, composed ofrefractorymaterial, such as fire bricks, and extending from side to sideof the furnace. Thepath ofthe gases between the grate and the furnaceoutlet or flues'is constricted or limited to the capacity -f the throat,9, between the inlet ends of the arches. These arches cont-am aplurality of air channels or ducts, 78, respectively,

which communicate with the outer air through tubes, 7-8, that extendthrough the rear and from water legs of the boiler. The inner ends ofthe arches contain cavities, 7 and 8?, communicating with respective airducts and opening through the undersidcs of the arches. These cavitiesextend from side tb side of the furnace and are provided with inclinedinner walls, 7 and S, which consti tute deflectors, so position-ed thatthe currents of air entering through the arch ducts are formed into flatstreams or sheets and are projected or directed toward the grate fromopp site sides of the throat. Thus the currents of air from the archesare made to conver'ge beneath the opening or threat, 9, between thearches, forming a complete barrier or stratum of air beneath saidthroat, the sanie extending across the throat and. side to side of thefurnace.

v The steps comprising and incident to our invention and the manner ofusing the invention will now be more fully described.

The exhaust nozzle (not shown) in the front end of the locomotive boilercauses a,

draft of air upward through the grate as required to maintain initialcombustion thereon. The partial vacuum in the furnace chamber caused bythe exhaust of gases through the boiler 'llues, results in the inllow oflarge volumes of air from the tubes '7 8, and through the hollow orclnnmclcd arches wherewith they communicate.

degree by the fire beneath; hence, the air The bricks .composing thearches are heated to a lngh flowing through and discharged from thearches is perfectly prepared for admixture with the combustibles thatrise from the bed of fuel. Although the air thus supplied above thegrate is intensely hot, it is nevertheless cooler than the surface ofthe'body of burnin fuel, and also cooler than the ascending fuel gasesand vapors. The air, therefore, naturally falls toward the grate and atleast a'portion of the admitted air spreads over the fire to acceleratecombustion at that point. Furthermore, the velocity of the air, due tothe vacuum, is augmented by the ex pansion of the air in the arches, andas the swiftly moving currents of air come into contact with theoppositely inclined surfaces, 7 8 of the arches, the air is deflectedthereby and projected downwardly. It is obvious that the two streamswhich emerge from the opposed arches converge at a point beneath thefurnace throat, 9-, and together constitute a continuous stratum of air,which, as it extends from side to side of the furnace, effectually barsthe passage of all combustibles except as they combine with the heatedair. The strong downward movement of the currents or sheets of air fromthe two arches is resisted by the updraft through the furnace, thelatter insuring their convergence beneath the throat. The air that isadmitted around the lower part of the throat, as above explained, thoughalready hot, quickly attains a still higher temperature in the at- Imosphere of hot furnace gases and for this reason more quickly entersinto combina tion therewitl It is substantially true that where ourprocess is employed, only perfectly enriched or prepared combustiblesare permitted to pass the throat of the furnace and that the foe finalcombustion which occurs in the upper part or combustion chamber of thefurnace is complete and perfect.

A distinct advantage of our invention is that the blast induced vacuumin the furnace to 5 chamber is reduced by the admission of air above thegrate, preventing both the disruption of the fire and the carrying overof cin ders, less care being'necessary in firing, and the top of thearch and the lower flues of'the 1 IO boiler bein no longer found loadedwith cindors as int 1e past.

' It is obvious that alterations in the physical conditions associatedwith the carrying out of our process, such as changes in the 115 form ofthe furnace throat, or in the manner of heating or introducing the airat the. throat, "may be made without departure from the process hereindescribed.

Having thus described our invention, we 120V claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent:

The improvement in the art of consuming fuel in furnaces that consistsin burning fuel in the lower part of a ,furnace, maintaining a partialsupply of air through the bottom of said furnace, constricting theevolved gaseousbody at a point between the burning fuel and the furnaceoutlet, and projecting into the constricted portion of said bod andtowardthe burning fuel a plurality 0 converging streams of hot air,thereby establishing a barrier that is coextensive with the constriatedportion of the gaseous body, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this 22d day ofMarch, 1906, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EVAN H. WADE.

Witnesses:

CHARLES GILBERT HAWLEY, M. SIMON.

. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this 27 day ofMarch, 1906, in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN L. NICHOLSON. Witnesses:

WM. H. STEPHENSON, E. L. HODGES.

